Origins of the Cold War

 Who started the Cold War, USA or USSR?

The USA started the Cold war

➢They had decided at the Yalta conference that Eastern Europe would come under the “Soviets sphere of influence” they then at the Potsdam Conference disagreed about it

➢It was Truman who came up with the “get tough” attitude against the Soviets

➢After “the long telegram” they changed their view towards communism, they made sure that the public hate USSR

➢They brought up the policy of containment, which was to stop the spread of communism.

➢They introduced the Truman Doctrine which meant that they would stop communism at any cost and there would be a point at which they would use military force against them.

➢They introduced the Marshall Plan which was that they provided $17 billion to Europe for it to rebuild and also keep itself away from the spread of communism

➢It joined its region with Britain and France so that it can stop communism from spreading into Germany 

➢They involved themselves, in the communist take over of Greece. The funded the Greek monarchist to make sure that they would stay away from communism

➢They came up with NATO so that it can prevent the spread of communism

The USSR started the Cold war

➢Stalin was worried about a threat to USSR so he got Eastern Europe under the “Soviets sphere of influence”

➢Stalin had many disagreements at the Potsdam Conference as he was looking for the safety of his nation and not of the entire Europe. He wanted to cripple Germany but then this would just turn out to be the same events which to place at the TOV

➢He set up a communist government up in Poland which was against the will of the Poles

➢He introduced the Salami Tactics, he eliminated all his oppositions bit by bit

➢He introduced the COMINFORM which is the Communist Information Bureau. Over here, he educated all the communist leaders in different countries

➢He complained to the UN that British troops were involving themselves into Greece peace so that the communists could take over Greece

➢The communist actions which took place in Czechoslovakia to eliminate all democrats created fear for the Americans

➢The USSR were the ones who blocked all the supplies into West Berlin

#Note that

Berlin played a big role in this because at the Yalta and Potsdam conference, it was decided that Germany and Berlin would be divided into 4 zones. The Americans, British and the French did want to let Germany be converted into communist. They together joined their regions and aimed it at USSR. Berlin had lied deeply into the Soviet Land. Stalin fell threatened by this and that is why, he brought up the Berlin Blockade which was that he stopped all transport facilities to West Berlin, which meant that Berlin would be at the mercy of Stalin but the USA were not ready to give up so easily that is why they came up with the Berlin airlift. For 318 days, the USA kept supplying food to West Berlin by air. Stalin could not shoot a plane down because it would be considered an act of War. It is considered significant as, for the first time USA had resisted the spread of communism and changed their policy of isolationism. It showed that the USA did not want to give up and let communism spread. The USSR were taking every chance to seize control of the spreading communism all over the world. It showed that it was USA, Britain and France against USSR 

Causes of WWII

Was using Appeasement justified?

IT WAS JUSTIFIED

➢Using appeasement was correct as Chamberlin feared another war and people wanted peace so the public did not go to war and wanted to avoid it

➢Chamberlin had faith in the League of Nations to solve their problems

➢Britain was too weak to go for war in 1938, it needed time to re-arm

➢The TOV was considered unfair and that is why Chamberlin gave into the demands of Hitler

➢He feared and communism and thought that Hitler would help in destroy communism

➢He also misjudged Hitler, he said that Sudetenland was the last thing he wanted

➢USA were following isolationism so they did not want to stand up against Germany without American support

➢The depression had hit all the countries so, economic problems were a higher priority

IT WAS NOT JUSTIFIED

Ø  It let Hitler grow stronger

Ø  It humiliated Britain who were using appeasement as no other country in the world could ever trust the British support again

Ø  He mobilized his navy because he gave Czechoslovakia his assurance in 1938, but then came under the influence of Mussolini who got them both together at the Munich Agreement in which Hitler got what he wanted which was Sudetenland and eventually the whole of Czechoslovakia

Ø  It abandoned many people in the hands of the Nazis

Ø  It let Hitler achieve his aims which was to abolish the Treaty of Versailles and he was successful

Ø  The Spanish Civil War showed the strength of the German armed forces but even then they did not tell Hitler to disarm

Did the Nazi-Soviet pact start War in 1939?

Nazi-Soviet Pact

➢Hitler did not want fight a war on 2 fronts that is why he signed the pact.

➢The pact gave Hitler a direct way to attain all his aims which were:-

1.To abolish the TOV:- The TOV had not allowed Germany to enter into any of the foreign land. He broke this.

2.To attain Lebensraum:- By invading into Eastern Europe he was getting greater living space and was uniting all the Germans

3.To defeat Communism:- Even though Hitler signed a treaty with Russia he was very adamant in defeating communism and according to the map he was moving one step closer Russia

➢It was certain after Munich that Britain and France would not go for war over Poland, only the Russians would object to this so signing the treaty will clear the way for them

➢The pact secret agreements in which they decided that Poland and many more countries would be divided

Other factors

➢Appeasement:- Britain and France always gave into what Hitler wanted and that is one of the reason why War began, appeasement made Hitler more bold as he had already got through appeasement:

1.Remilitarization of Rhineland

2.Anschluss with Austria

3.Czechoslovakia

➢The failure of the League of Nations, it was unable to stop Hitler and many other conflicts

1.Spanish Civil War

2.Remilitarization of Rhineland, the TOV had forbidden this and one of the main reasons as to why the LON existed was to uphold the TOV.

3.Anschluss with Austria, the TOV had forbidden this and one of the main reasons as to why the LON existed was to uphold the TOV.

➢Militarism, the Germans were re-arming secretly and huge armed forces

League Of Nations: Revision Guide

Which Country should be blamed for the failure of the League of Nations?

Britain and France

➢They were the leading countries in the LON, they were only looking for their own interests

➢They did not want to upset Poland so they gave Vilna to them.

➢They did not want to send their armies in places where it was not required

➢They thought that they could do anything an France invaded Ruhr without the consultation of the League

➢The Conference of Ambassadors were given a higher authority than the League

➢In the case of Manchuria, they did not pass many economic sanctions on Japan as they felt that Japan might retaliate in war

➢They were slow to react in this situation

➢When Italy captured Abyssinia, they did not want to upset Mussolini because he was their biggest ally against Hitler.

➢There were secret dealings between Hoare and Laval unknown to the League

➢At the same time Hitler marches into Rhineland and turns Frances attention leaving Abyssinia

Italy

➢They were one of the leading members of the league and they showed a lot of aggression in the Greece.

➢They got what they wanted by going against the league 

➢They were also a leading member who should have taken actions in other crisis but they left it all to Britain and France

➢There was a great economic depression and the fascist governments like Italy were looking for more of external success

➢They again showed their aggression in Abyssinia

How successful was the League?

It was very successful

➢In 1921, the league had held a plebiscite in which the Silesian people were made to vote and the league divided it according to the result which was that the industrial regions were given to Germany and the agricultural region was given to Poland

➢Sweden and Finland were having an argument on the Aaland Islands in 1921, after an investigation the island was given to Finland and it was abided by Sweden

➢In 1924, there was an argument between Turkey and Iraq over Mosul. There was an investigation was there and Mosul was given to Iraq. Turkey accepted this

➢Greece invaded Bulgaria and the league interfered and ordered Greece to leave and pay compensation the Greece agreed to it.

➢They also made many changes in Europe like they helped many refugees

➢They introduced the International Labor Organization and introduced MAX. 48 hour work per week

➢They introduced the World Health Organization in which they prevented many deaths by diseases.

➢They made an International highway codes

➢There was a pact signed in 1928, called the Kellogg-Briand pact which meant that if there was dispute they would solve it peacefully.

It was not very successful

➢There was a border dispute in Vilna, between Poland and Lithuania, despite Vilna being their capital the league gave it to Poland as Britain and France did not want to upset Poland

➢The league were not consulted in the invasion of Ruhr

➢In 1923, Lithuania seized Memel, the League told them to leave but the Conference of Ambassadors gave it to them

➢Mussolinis aggressions was not contained in the Corfu crisis of 1923

➢The failure of The Geneva Protocol in 1924 showed how weak the League was

➢The disarmament commission was unable to disarm, most of the country

➢There were many international agreements, which showed that the nations did not rely on the League. Treaties like Washington, The Rapallo Treaty, Young plan and many more

➢The failure of containing the aggression put forward by the Japanese and the Italians in the Abyssinian crisis and Manchuria.

➢Italy and Japan were the 2 main countries in the League and this was the situation, big country against a small one. They were very unsuccessful in doing so.